Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is one of the major public health problems in northwest Ethiopia, mainly in Libo-Kemkem and Metema districts, where Phlebotomus orientalis is the most probable vector of the disease. The aim of this study was to determine the physiological age, host preference and vectorial potential of P. orientalis in the highland and lowland foci of the region. Sand flies were col...

BACKGROUND Certain salivary proteins of phlebotomine sand flies injected into the host skin during blood-feeding are highly antigenic and elicit strong antibody-mediated immune responses in repeatedly-exposed hosts. These antibodies can be measured by enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assays (ELISAs) using salivary gland homogenates (SGHs) as the source of antigens and serve as a markers for exposur...

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a rapid method with high specificity and efficiency under isothermal condition using a set of four specifically designed primers that recognize six distinct sequences on the target gene. In this study, a LAMP method was developed for specific detection of Babesia orientalis in water buffalo (Bubalus babalis, Linnaeus, 1758). Four primers were des...

The C-banding karyotype of the jerboas Allactaga tetradactyla, Jaculus jaculus jaculus, and Jaculus orientalis was described and interspecific relationships were discussed. Despite the conservation of a relatively small amount of C-heterochromatin located at the centromeric region of some chromosomes in all karyotypes, a striking loss of C-heterochromatin was clearly observed in J. orientalis. ...

Earthworms were collected in forests, damp habitats, springs, orchards and agricultural fields of the Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmad Province, Iran, from April 2009 to April 2010. Specimens were collected at 20 established stations by digging and by diluted formalin methods. Ten species belonging to family Lumbricidae were identified based on morphology: Aporrectodea caliginosa (Savigny, 1826), Ap. r...

Thuja orientalis (CommonlyMorpankhi, FamilyCupressaceae) is an evergreen, monoecious trees or shrubs used in various forms of traditional medicines and homeopathy in various ways. In traditional practices Thuja is used for treatment of bronchial catarrh, enuresis, cystitis, psoriasis, uterine carcinomas, amenorrhea and rheumatism. Recent researches in different parts of the world have shown tha...

A new species of fire-bellied newt, Cynops fudingensis, is described from northeastern Fujian Province, southeastern China. This species forms a well-supported clade with C. orientalis and C. orphicus based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences from mitochondrial DNA subunit two of NADH dehydrogenase and its two flanking tRNAs. Further, its genetic distance to each of the t...

AIM The aim of the present study was to investigate the presence of Theileria in blood samples of crossbred and indigenous adult cows raised under unorganized small scale farming system in a Babesia and Anaplasma endemic geographical area from Assam, India and to see its transmission through Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus ticks. MATERIALS AND METHODS For the present study, 57 clinical ca...

Niébé is a food leguminous plant cultivated in tropical Africa for its seeds rich in proteins. The main problem setted by its production is the conservation of harvests. In the fields as in the stocks, the seeds are destroyed by pests (bruchids). These bruchids are always associated with several entomophagous species of hymenoptera. Four entomophagous species were listed : an egg parasitoid (U ...